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Sometimes, they even happened on purpose. Personally, the captain rather liked having children around, although not to the extent that she'd ever thought of having her own.
    She could hear the young woman fidgeting and reluctantly opened her eyes to meet a cautiously defiant gaze. "You do realize that, considering the king's edict, what you did was, to say the least, irresponsible?"
    Annice tossed her head. "I didn't do it on purpose." Liene leaned back and slowly lifted one brow. "My point," she said, "exactly." When understanding registered, she sighed and leaned forward again. "I realize why you gave away the tea, Annice, although, as we've been importing it from the south at ridiculous prices to prevent exactly this situation, I'm sure you realize that I wish you'd never met the woman. The deed being done, however, didn't it occur to you to temper later actions?" A blush stained Annice's cheeks deeply pink in spite of color left by two quarters on the road.
    "It only happened the once. There just weren't any alternatives handy, and…"
    "Never mind." A chronicle of spontaneous passion was more than Liene felt up to at the moment. "You're certain about the father?"
    "Yes, Captain."
    " And it's none of my business. Succinctly put . Annice's voice control was a credit to her training. "Do you feel any obligation to let him know?"
    "No, Captain. It was a casual encounter. He'll have no interest in a child from it."
    Because a difficult situation would be marginally less difficult if the father never knew, Liene was willing to go along with Annice's assessment. "And you're determined to continue the pregnancy?"
    "Yes."
    "Why?"
    "Why?" Annice repeated, looking confused. "You're still within the healer's limits. Why continue when, considering His Majesty's edict, it would be easier—not to mention less dangerous—to terminate?"
    Annice paced the length of the room and back, then bent over and placed her palms very precisely on the edge of the captain's desk. "Look, Captain, I'm twenty-four years old. I'm in excellent health. I haven't got a family anymore and I suddenly find that I want one now I've got this chance."
    "I thought the bards had become your family, Annice."
    She caught the older woman's gaze and held it. "Have they?"

    Liene recognized the challenge. One family had turned their backs on this young woman already. Would a second? "If I support you in this, it is my treason, a bardic treason, as much as it is yours."
    "I know that."
    "The king would be within his rights to have everyone who knew and who didn't tell him put to the sword."
    Annice almost smiled. "Then tell everyone."
    "Your point," Liene acknowledged. "As he certainly can't execute us all, we're safe enough. But, considering it objectively, you're probably just as safe. You don't honestly believe that His Majesty would have you put to death over this matter, do you?"
    "I can't afford not to believe it. I have my baby's life to consider."
    "Then you should go into hiding."
    "Where would be safer than Bardic Hall?"
    Just about anywhere farther than a stone's throw from the palace , Liene thought but she kept that opinion to herself as she recognized the expression on Annice's face. Nothing she could say would change the younger bard's mind at this point and, as she herself didn't believe there was any great danger, she decided not to make it an order. His Majesty would find out about the baby in due time and then things would get interesting. Bards appreciated that. Still…
    "I think you should tell him," she said finally.
    "I'm a bard." Annice straightened, brown eyes narrowing. "Why should a bard have to tell the king she's having a baby?"
    "He's your brother."
    "He proclaimed me out of the family. He shouldn't be able to have it both ways."
    Liene drummed her fingers on her desk as she considered the options, one hand beating counterpoint to the other. It didn't seem worth mentioning that, as the king, he could have it any way he wanted it. "Very